By Keith Hunt

A driver has been found guilty of causing the death of a teenager he knocked down.

Koaldeep Singh Lit faces jail when sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court today.

He denied causing death by dangerous driving but was convicted.

The 35-year-old, of Cliffe Road, Strood, had made the long journey from Bath, Somerset, where he had been working, on the day of the tragedy, but he denied falling asleep at the wheel.

A jury heard Lit was driving his Vauxhall Vectra along London Road, Overcliffe, on January 24 last year when the tragedy happened.

Joshua Callaghan, 16, was struck by the car as he walked along a footpath by a school with his father.

The teenager died the next day. Kelly Allen’s Fiat was hit by Lit’s car as she approached a pedestrian crossing.

Her daughter, then aged 12, was in the front passenger seat.

"I remember hearing a loud screeching," she said. "As I got towards the top of the hill I saw a maroon car on the wrong side of the road.

"It hit some railings on my side of the road and bounced off. It started to catch fire."

After the crash she saw the driver of the other car was limping. She did not see his car hit the victim.

"I knew somebody had been injured and the father of the person was there and he was angry," said Mrs Allen.

Lit claimed he swerved to avoid a dog before the collision, but a police expert said the evidence was inconsistent with the explanation.